File photo of Shan Masood© AFP
The Pakistan cricket team had a horrible outing at the T20 World Cup 2024 as the Babar Azam-led side crashed out of the tournament in the group stage. Since the elimination, there have been reports of groupings in the dressing room and some fans even speculated about possible match-fixing among the players. Test captain Shan Masood, however, rubbished any such claim and said that he cannot question the integrity of any cricketer. Masood also spoke about Arshad Nadeem after the athlete won Pakistan’s first-ever Olympics gold medal and hailed him as a ‘national hero’. A reporter spoke about Nadeem’s achievement during a press conference and asked Masood about the rewards of bringing glory to the nation. He also suggested that such achievements are more rewarding than gains from activities like match-fixing.
“I can’t question anybody’s intention as you used the word match-fixing. I don’t think in the current setup of Pakistan cricket, nobody can question their integrity. It’s something which I don’t agree with at all. Secondly, the World Cup is past now and we need to look forward. I can guarantee all our players want to win matches for Pakistan but wins and losses are there and we’re the saddest whenever we lose,” said Masood in the pre-match press conference ahead of the Test series against Bangladesh.
“As you spoke about Arshad Nadeem, he’s a national hero. What he’s achieved now it has further catapulted him to a greater stature and we’re very happy about that. We’ll take inspiration from Arshad Nadeem’s success and hope to bring in more glory for Pakistan,” he added.
With two wins from five Tests in the 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle, Pakistan have a point percentage of 36.66%, and are behind India, Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the points table.
But Pakistan do have a chance of climbing to the top two rankings, as after hosting Bangladesh, they will host England for three Tests, and West Indies for two Tests. They are also slated to tour South Africa for two Tests.
If Pakistan win all of their remaining contests, they’ll end up with a point percentage of 77.38% and be almost certain to play their maiden WTC final.
(With ANI inputs)
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